Author: mk3715

At tonight’s Basketball Mania event hosted by Columbia Athletics, the Women’s Basketball team thought it was a good idea to include in their dance performance what essentially amounts to a 15 second modern minstrel show.

The fetishization, sexualisation, and degradation of black women’s bodies is nothing new (see: Saartjie Baartman / any discussion of Serena Williams’ femininity / etc) but its shocking that people are still so brazen about it. We already know that black features are only desirable when appropriated by non-black people (cc: Kylie).

It is unsurprising that a team made up of mostly white players — I know there’s a black girl on the team, but that doesn’t mean they’re not racist — would not find any problems with this performance of blackness, but I’m going to need for everyone to take a step back and at least ~*pretend*~ to try and to not devalue members of the community for like 2 weeks at least. Let a girl get through these midterms.